Shadow Phantoms - H.P. Mallory Page 0,52

Scrote became tense at the mere thought of a collieshangie or squabble with our fellows.

Though I was not eager to carry on with a companion, Scrote had decided to become just that. Not wanting to spoil his good mood, I had not argued it.

“’Tis okay, Scrote,” I said, hoping to calm him because his dithering would only cause the wallopers to castigate him further. I took a few steps toward a large vat of water, Scrote beside me. As soon as I washed the feces from my being and traded enough hides for fresh meat to sustain my companion and me for supper, we would return to the comfort of the woodland.

“That’s it!” the idiot who’d hurled his shite at me yelled after us. “Run away just like the slags you are!”

“Shut yer geggie!” I bellowed at him, unable to quell my anger any longer, for I did not appreciate being termed a whore. “Or I will come up there an’ shut it for ye, ye lazy sugg!”

“M… Morse,” Scrote began, looking up at me with large, circular eyes that made him resemble a lemur.

I glanced back at the numpty trouble maker and noticed he was now much quieter. He was also near half my size. Mayhap I could take all five of them…

“Aye,” I answered Scrote with a brief nod as I quelled my inner rage, deciding I would avoid a confrontation with the dobbers for this day. Come the morrow, I could not say what my feelings would be on the matter. “I willnae encourage them.”

“T… they’re just a bunch o’ nutters,” Scrote continued, hopping along beside me until he reminded me of a peely-wally jackrabbit, pale and sickly. With his lanky appendages, short stature and long, narrow face, a jackrabbit was not a bad comparison.

I was not certain of Scrote’s age. He could have been two and forty or he could have been forty and two. Whatever his age, it paled in comparison to my years—years that had passed so numerously, I was not even certain how old I was. And I had spent the better part of them down here, in this waking hell.

“Aye,” I answered, breathing in deeply as I considered his statement. The truth of the matter was that the five neepheids were not the only nutters in this godforsaken place. The entire population was in leave of its senses. Save myself, the inhabitants were insane, some of them criminals and some of them not. All were the refuse of Fae society—those civilians who could not function in proper civilization. Or they were enemies to the Fae. Or they were simply the dead who had nowhere else to go—regardless, all were doomed to live in darkness down here, in the pit, the Abyss. The land of no return.

“T…t… tell me again about the l…l… land ye come from,” Scrote beseeched me, glancing up with a wistful expression. He joined his palms in a praying gesture, no doubt aware that I had entertained him with this story more times than I could recall.

“I hail from a land called Scotland,” I started, repeating the story of my ancestry for at least the tenth time. ‘Twas the only story that appeared to calm Scrote. I removed my kilt and submerged it in the water, watching as the feces released the fabric and washed away. I continued, scrubbing the tartan with a stone I picked up from the ground.

“Will you t…t… take me back with you?” Scrote asked, sounding hopeful.

“Aye,” I answered although I did not know how I would find my way back to Scotland as I had been down here so long now, I did not believe there was a way out. I was not even certain where the Abyss was located. Not surprisingly, no one here seemed knowledgeable of its whereabouts either.

If ever I did find my way home, I would not be averse to taking Scrote with me. I did not imagine he would survive much longer in Mayhem. He had already been marked by his fellows for befriending me, thus there was no telling what might become of him without my protection.

“Oh, thank…k…” Scrote started before he was interrupted by a screeching sound that carried over the tops of the trees.

I glanced up from my laundering, toward the direction where the noise had emanated and narrowed my eyes on the mouth of what appeared to be a cave. The cave was within the side of a mountain, rising high from the middle of